by Bill Bryson
Actually, the full title is "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid", but who is ever going to call it that?
This was a gift and although I appreciated the sentiment, I did not expect to enjoy it much. I figured that it would be more than I wanted to know about Bryson's Iowa childhood.
I was wrong!
It turned out to be a fascinating read in that it was not just about him, but also about America in the 1950s and thus about the lives of those of us who were young in the 50s.
Perhaps giving a short passage will illustrate this: "The last stop in every shopping trip was a corner grocer's called Benteco's, where they had a screen door that kerboinged and bammed in a deeply satisfying manner, and made every entrance a kind of occasion. At Benteco's I was always allowed to select two bottles of NeHi brand pop – one for dinner, one for afterwards when we were playing cards or watching Bilko or Jack Benny on TV. NeHi was the pop of small towns – I don't know why – and it had the intensest flavour and most vivid colours of any products yet cleared by the Food and Drugs Administration for human consumption. It came in six select flavours – grape, strawberry, orange, cherry, lime-lemon (never "lemon-lime") and root beer – but each was so potently flavourful that it made you eyes water like an untended sprinkler, and so sharply carbonated that it was like swallowing a thousand tiny razor blades. It was wonderful."
Reviewed by David Nale
This was a gift and although I appreciated the sentiment, I did not expect to enjoy it much. I figured that it would be more than I wanted to know about Bryson's Iowa childhood.
I was wrong!
It turned out to be a fascinating read in that it was not just about him, but also about America in the 1950s and thus about the lives of those of us who were young in the 50s.
Perhaps giving a short passage will illustrate this: "The last stop in every shopping trip was a corner grocer's called Benteco's, where they had a screen door that kerboinged and bammed in a deeply satisfying manner, and made every entrance a kind of occasion. At Benteco's I was always allowed to select two bottles of NeHi brand pop – one for dinner, one for afterwards when we were playing cards or watching Bilko or Jack Benny on TV. NeHi was the pop of small towns – I don't know why – and it had the intensest flavour and most vivid colours of any products yet cleared by the Food and Drugs Administration for human consumption. It came in six select flavours – grape, strawberry, orange, cherry, lime-lemon (never "lemon-lime") and root beer – but each was so potently flavourful that it made you eyes water like an untended sprinkler, and so sharply carbonated that it was like swallowing a thousand tiny razor blades. It was wonderful."
Reviewed by David Nale
2 comments:
This book sounds like one I might enjoy. The 50's were my formative years, and I still recall making "I LIKE IKE" posters at school. But NeHi pop I had forgot about!
Thanks, David. The site looks great so far. Very classy background. I relaxed as if I were walking into a much-used but comfortable library. I think it will be a great hit!
Sounds like a good read for us folks. Gee, isn't Bilko still on? Oh, yeah, Silvers passed, didn't he?
I agree; this site should be enjoyable for us bibliophiles (or whatever we are)
Post a Comment